Pittsburgh, February 22, 1856, although too young to vote. I watched
the prominent men as they walked the streets, lost in admiration for
Senators Wilson, Hale, and others. Some time before I had organized
among the railroad men a club of a hundred for the "New York Weekly
Tribune," and ventured occasionally upon short notes to the great
editor, Horace Greeley, who did so much to arouse the people to action
upon this vital question.

The first time I saw my work in type in the then flaming organ of
freedom certainly marked a stage in my career. I kept that "Tribune"
for years. Looking back to-day one cannot help regretting so high a
price as the Civil War had to be paid to free our land from the curse,
but it was not slavery alone that needed abolition. The loose Federal
system with State rights so prominent would inevitably have prevented,
or at least long delayed, the formation of one solid, all-powerful,
central government. The tendency under the Southern idea was
centrifugal. To-day it is centripetal, all drawn toward the center
under the sway of the Supreme Court, the decisions of which are, very
properly, half the dicta of lawyers and half the work of statesmen.
Uniformity in many fields must be secured. Marriage, divorce,
bankruptcy, railroad supervision, control of corporations, and some
other departments should in some measure be brought under one head.
[Re-reading this paragraph to-day, July, 1907, written many years ago,
it seems prophetic. These are now burning questions.]

It was not long after this that the railroad company constructed its
own telegraph line. We had to supply it with operators. Most of these
were taught in our offices at Pittsburgh. The telegraph business
continued to increase with startling rapidity. We could scarcely
provide facilities fast enough. New telegraph offices were required.